One afternoon in September 1998 while I was working my
usual shift at the Royal Bank in Gibsons, BC, in walks Marc Emery. I’ll never
forget seeing him on the news and reading about this rebel with a cause. He had
moved himself and his entourage away from the raids and unsupportive Mayor at
that time.

My immediate reaction was too scream out ‘oh my god it’s
The Prince of Pot, can I have your autograph’ but instead I looked around to see
who was in the branch and noticed The Prince and I were alone. Oh what an
opportunity this was. My heart beating as if I had run a marathon, the palms of
my hands soaking wet, knowing I needed to tell him what a ‘Hero’ he was (and
still is). I asked him if I could help him, he immediately responded with a yes
and we started to proceed with his banking transactions.

It was during these few minutes that I found the courage
to blurt out “Mr Emery you are an amazing man, you are a hero to me, I have
Crohn’s disease and am a closet smoker, it is a person like you that is going to
help me and others bring Marijuana legalization to our world”. His eyes lit up
thru his handsome geeky persona. His smile warmed my soul. He ran out to his car
telling me to hang on, he brought back the Sept/Oct 1998 edition of Cannabis
Culture Magazine.

He signed it ‘To Bruce and Michelle: OVERGROWING THE
GOVERNMENT ONE BUD AT A TIME, FEAR NO EVIL AS THE TRUTH IS ON OUR SIDE, MARC
EMERY SEPT/98’. As he handed me the magazine he then began to write down his
address and phone number on a separate piece of paper (which I still have) and
invited myself and then husband Bruce to come by sometime. Wow, I mean
unbelievable, The Prince of Pot, at my counter depositing alimony to one of his
ex-wives, which he had told me about from the get go.

When I arrived home that evening I was overwhelmed with
excitement and inspiration. Bruce had just gotten home as well , I started
literally jumping up and down ranting and raving that I had met Marc Emery ,
waving the signed magazine as if it were my patriotic country flag, I had the
phone in another hand calling my mommy trying to tell both husband and mother at
the same time that “THIS MAN IS GOING TO CHANGE MY LIFE SOMEDAY AND I AM GOING
TO CHANGE HIS”. Both Emilie and Bruce will verify this prediction I had made
that September evening in 1998. I just knew, from the moment he walked into the
bank and we connected that this was sign I was looking for to ‘come out of the
closet’.

With every rebel there is also danger remember, so I hid
the magazine and the address under my bed in case anybody might find it besides
my mother and Bruce. We all know how marijuana prohibition creates paranoia,
wouldn’t want my mortgage to be taken away due to anti-prohibitionist magazine
that is educating the world. So I hid ‘in the closet’ with my very limited
amount of cannabis (medicine), due to my cowardice and the expense. Until June
2000.

The Beginning of the Bottom

They say there’s no place to start from like the top
but if you are a realist you know starting from the bottom, which I feel is the
beginning, is the only way to truly accomplish anything in life. Disgruntled job
wise, unsatisfied with myself and Crohn’s disease, purposely childless after 5
years of marriage, knowing in my soul I was meant to help in this world, I
began focusing in my soul of what I could do. That purpose in my eyes was to
show the world that you can be a responsible hard working disease ridden person
and survive using Cannabis. That this wasn’t the ‘evil’ drug that the world had
been falsely told for the the past 75 years.

By fate as I say, I picked up the weekly local paper.
There was an ad in the ‘Help Wanted’ section looking for a person to take care
and assist Marc Emery in his home. This was it, my chance to come out of the
closet and start my destiny with my “Soul Partner.”

I called him within minutes holding the magazine he had
signed and the hand written address. He had remembered meeting me at the bank
(it was the blonde, big boobs, red lip thing) and was curious as to why an over
qualified young woman would apply for the position of ‘cleaning lady’.

I explained that he had to see me before hiring anyone.
Luckily he agreed and I went to his home the next day. Armed with my resume and
6 pages of references I was not going to fail, I knew in my soul he would see
that he needed me as much as I needed him. Within a few minutes I was hired.
Part of me was completely overjoyed, finally a step toward legalization, the
other part terrified of how I was going to explain to my world that I’m working
for Marc Emery.

I went home that evening with an unbelievable gift of
some Shiskaberry after having been taken to dinner by Marc and a small group of
activists that are now my greatest mentors. It was at that time I knew this was
the start of the rest of my life and I had a massive job ahead. Seeing that many
different areas of Marc’s business life and personal life needed help I decided
to get busy and start cleaning up, and I mean clean up. From his house, to
wardrobe, to relationships, to firing and hiring I did it all, at the same time
becoming ‘family’ and ‘friend’.

I was privileged to get my Marijuana education while
working for the best activist in the world. Absorbing every bit of knowledge I
could get from The Prince, Dana Larsen and Richard Cowan who were staying with
Marc at the time.

Chris Bennett became manager of POT-TV after my push
when a necessary replacement was needed. When I was doing Marc’s laundry in the
basement I would pick apart and question Chris’s cannabis knowledge, his
brilliance along with a list of others gave me an education that I can only pay
back with dedication to legalization.

The BC Marijuana Party

When Marc decided to run the BCMP in 2001’s provincial
election I thought this was absolutely fantastic. A weekend brainstorming
conference led to moving back to the very spot he had left to establish The BCMP
Bookstore and BCMP. I held the position of Deputy Financial Agent and Executive
Assistant to the Party President.

We hired Matthew Johnson to be our campaign manager who
came with a credible list of credentials and a scandalous past. The team was
perfect and the race was on to get 79 candidates in 79 ridings by a tight
deadline. Recruiting for the BCMP of course was a difficult task. Convincing
anybody not to worry about the consequences of coming out of the closet and
agreeing to marijuana legalization wasn’t easy. We searched every riding until
we found someone if we didn’t we sent anyone that was in our world to run in
that riding, including myself. It was imperative to get 79. This would prove a
point to Canada and the rest of the world that a first time political party
could run a full slate and be the BCMP. Our platform was based on libertarian
philosophy and one’s own rights.

Nervous, but full of courage, I flew up to Dawson Creek
(which is in the northern part of the province) to begin my campaign for Peace
River South. I needed to collect 50 signatures in order to be on the voting
ballot. Within a day I had gotten my signatures and filed my paperwork with
elections BC to represent the BCMP in the riding of Peace River South. I
celebrated that evening with my supporters at The Alaska Café and Pub, handing
out copies of Cannabis Culture and BCMP literature. I was so proud of myself for
walking into the majority of the business’s in my riding and campaigning such an
important issue, even if a few couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of a
political party being about MARIJUANA.

Northern BC differs from southern, but most agree that
cannabis should be legal. I flew back to home base and started living in Marc’s
guest bedroom during the election. We exhausted ourselves daily during the
campaign. Matthew was of constant support and strength to Marc and I, his
political know how led us to the 4% we did get in the final results of the
election.

Of course, we did this with all of the 79 courageous
candidates that fearlessly handed out pamphlets and buttons to get the awareness
and attention Marijuana needs to end prohibition. This will be an experience
that I cherish for the rest of my life, quite an accomplishment for me as a
young woman with Crohn’s disease. Only 11 out of 79 candidates were women.

flew back up to my riding of Peace River South and
participated in debates that made not only my hands sweat but my armpits as
well! Speaking in front of hundreds in the community, along side my 5 male
opponents, all with differing views and lifestyles, gave me a stage to prove my
existence and theories about marijuana to a group eager to learn.

My role in the 2005 provincial election changed and I
became the Vice-President and Financial Agent for the BCMP. Kirk Tousaw,
formerly of the BC Civil Liberty’s Union and lawyer, managed our election.

44 candidates and a low budget still got us a tremendous
amount of press and attention to the issue of legalization. Someday I hope that
we get a seat in the House or that it won’t matter any more. As for me, well, I
still want to be Prime Minister!